Long range firearm shooting may require the shooter, in order to be successful in this art, to generally take into account a wide variety of variable inputs (e.g., ammunition type, firearm specifics, target distance, field conditions, and the like) and substantially integrate them into a final firing solution using known formulae via tables, calculators and the like. This final firing solution is then dialed into an adjustable scope mounted to the firearm to make sighting adjustments in the form of lift (up-and-down adjustments) and windage (side-to-side adjustments).
To find out if the shooter has correctly “dialed in” the final firing solution, the shooter substantially has to see where (or if) the shooter has hit the remote target and where on the remote target did the bullets hit. Due to the distance to the remote target, the shooter generally can't see unaided where the shots have hit a target from the shooting position. Without visual/optical aids, the shooter then generally has to walk or ride to and from the remote target (whose placement can be measured in hundreds to thousands of yards/meters from where the shooter fired) to inspect the remote target for bullet hole (i.e., shot) placement.
Alternatively, the shooters may use telescopes called spotting scopes to avoid actually traveling to the remote target to see how well they have done. These spotting scopes, which are to generally very high power (and accordingly can be very expensive) are placed on a stand proximate to the shooter so after the shooter has fired a shot or shots, the shooter views the target through the spotting scope. In those circumstance, the shooter generally has to stop shooting entirely; move out of and leave her firing stance and then go over and look through the spotting scope. Alternately, the shooter could have a spotting partner at the nearby spotting scope watching the target as the shooter takes the shot(s) and then the spotting partner tells the shooter about the results of such shooting.
What many long range shooters may find is that even after putting significant investment in the top-of-the-line spotting scopes, they still are not able to see where their shots have hit the remote target. When the distance to the remote target gets to be 500 yards/meters or more, the magnification of even the high quality spotting scope is generally not enough to allow the observer to view and see the placement of the shots (e.g., small diameter bullet holes) upon the remote target. In hot weather, this problem is exacerbated due to the mirage (e.g., heat waves in the air) that can further blur the visual picture of the remote target. The movement of the sun during the day can also impair the target viewing. When the sun is lower in the afternoon sky, the sunlight can hit and reflect off of the area behind the target just right so that the reflected color of that area matches up with the color of the target to make holes in the target literally seem to disappear.
As a result, when long range shooters are shooting 500 yards/meter or more, they once again are forced to travel (e.g., walk or drive) to and from the remote target to see their shooting results. This travel time (which increases with target distance) can significantly cut down on the time used for shooting and as well as being a significant and continual disruption of the shooting activity. This disruption can possible interfere with the shooter's setup and concentration needed to effect good results with long range shooting (e.g., getting out of/into the shooter's concentration “bubble”; moving out/into of a shooting position; disengaging from/wrapping into the rifle sling; unbuttoning-releasing/getting into/fastening up a specialized shooting coat-if used; placing down/picking up the firearm; making safe/loading the firearm; and moving from/into the selected shooting location, etc.).
In an attempt to move away from these shooting distractions, shooters have started to substantially use remote camera target surveillance systems. These systems may use a self-powered camera that is placed proximate but not too proximate (to reduce the likelihood of shooter shooting the camera by mistake) to the remote target. The remote camera may then utilize a transmitter to wirelessly communicate to a wireless receiver connected to visual display device (e.g. a laptop computer or like) located proximate to the shooter to present the visual image of the remote target as captured by the remote camera. Not only does such remote camera target surveillance eliminate the need and time to go visit the target but may also substantially eliminate mirage and low sunlight visual interference issues. Further, the shooter now can stay in place and “fully suited up” in the fully-rigged up shooting position. The shooter merely shifts her glance over to the laptop screen that is conveniently placed next to her shooting location to see a very clear picture of the target and of any resulting bullet holes. She then shifts her glance back to aiming the firearm to make any corrections to the firearm aiming system to generally try to improve bullet placement upon the target. In this manner, the shooter can maintain her shooting concentration and have more time (that was formerly used for spotting) to apply to the actual shooting activity.
One possible limitation for such remote camera target observation systems could be that such systems are limited to providing only a visual target observation and ignore other critical shooting effects/factors that traditionally can be used to improve the results of long range shooting activity. One such category of critical effect/factors is the meteorological, atmospheric or environmental conditions in the area (e.g., shooting range, field, etc.) where the shooting activity is taking place. One such atmospheric condition is the effect of wind on the bullet's pathway to the target. Wind can actually deflect a bullet from its expected trajectory path, generally sideways, in an effect known as windage. When the wind is moving perpendicularly to the bullet's trajectory, the bullet deflection is greater. When the wind is moving towards being parallel to the bullet's pathway, less bullet deflection occurs. Other atmospheric conditions have an effect on a predicted bullet trajectory as well such as altitude, barometric pressure, pressure trend, crosswind, density altitude, dew point, headwind/tailwind, temperature, and the like.
Although the written windage tables and like can generally be used to correct for some wind conditions, shooters use their experience and personal sense of the weather conditions to try to guestimate the windage correction in a manner traditionally known in the long range firearm shooting field as “Kentucky Windage.” The problem with this Kentucky Windage guestimate is that the atmospheric conditions at the area where the shooting is taking place generally do not match the environmental (e.g., atmospheric/meteorological/weather) conditions all the way out to the remote target or at the remote target itself. The further the target is from the shooter, the more likely the differences between the atmospheric conditions between the target's location and the shooter's location will be significant.
In addition to not being able to meter atmospheric conditions, current remote camera target observation systems may further lack other shooting impact capacities like ballistic calculations (e.g., taking into account such factors of ammunition type, bullet shape, weight and projected speed, range-to-target and the alike that can also affect projected bullet trajectory); memory capacity to retain and transfer measured and processed data results (e.g., data memory cards and the like); the capacity to provide user-based manipulation of gathered and stored data and the like.
Other possible limitations of existing remote camera target observation systems could be that they may be piecemeal-based solutions, providing less than all of the total needed components for a successful remote camera target observation system and generally are not otherwise fully self-contained. As a result, the existing remote camera target observation systems could be seen as being bulky and difficult to transport in the field.
One possible solution to such issues could be the present invention, a remote camera target observation system for long range shooting that further incorporates a capability of measuring the atmospheric conditions of the shooting range/field/area and present such measurements on a visual interface in a manner that can be easily and visually grasped by the shooter along with a visual image of the target. One such embodiment of the present invention could comprise one or more remote camera/wireless transmitting units and one or more (remote) weather meter/wireless transmitting units that respectively wirelessly communicate target image and atmospheric data (and the like) to a receiver/base unit proximate to the shooter. Each of the remote camera/wireless transmitter units and weather meter/wireless transmitter units could have their own power source and a transmitter that can wirelessly connect to the base/receiver unit. The base/receiver unit (generally placed proximate to the shooter) could have a receiver to receive the wireless signals as sent from the remote camera wireless transmitter units and the weather meter/wireless transmitter units and send such signals onto the receiver/base unit's computer. The computer could process such data and visual signals and then use a user interface to display data (processed and otherwise) along with a visual image of the target.
The remote camera/wireless transmitter unit, weather meter/wireless transmitter unit and the receiver/base unit can be battery-powered making them useful anywhere and also in other applications besides long range shooting. The receiver/base unit could comprise individual power units and a wireless receiver that can be connected to a user interface having visual to display. The combination of remote live video capability and remote weather monitoring capability being fed into one receiving/base unit is one unique aspect of the present system. The present invention's ability to provide quality components of small size that can be contained in a kit for easy transport is another unique aspect. The quality of the overall combination of the components of the present system is yet another unique aspect.